56 A Treasure Trove Part 1

When the time came for the announcement of the event to the masses there were many reading on notices posted by the men from the Sun Coalition. The notice reads as follows:

Dear honored guests of the Great Auction,

The announcements we have for you today is that of another even grander auction than the one that has just concluded. This auction will be on such a grand scale that many elders of the Sun Coalition have gathered to see that it proceeds smoothly. There will be a requirement to join this event. You must either have a large scale faction give you a recommendation or present over 250,000 silver coins at the time you are in line to get in. The event will be located in the area around location 1, and will start in an hour after this notice has been posted.

This notice surprised many because an event of this magnitude had not happened in a long time. Although there were many who were wondering what the event actually was, many knew it would be something only a fool would miss. The ones who could afford it or who had a recommendation rushed immediately to location 1 to line up.

Of course, Baron and the others were already at location one and it took them no time to make it to where this grandest of events would be held. Since they already had reserved a room they were able to get in with no hassles and immediately was seated in a private room. They sat and chatted while waiting for the event to begin.

The venue they were in was a circular stage draped in a red curtain about halfway in. Surrounding this stage was a 360degree view of seats much like an opera. The seats were divided into 3 groups, one for the relatively low class, one for private rooms for large factions, this is where Baron and the others were. The last was the most grandeur out of all of them belonging to the super powerful factions like the three great factions and Vesper

After the waiting time had passed someone had come out of the red curtains and was trying to get everyone to quiet down before he spoke.

(LG) "Good afternoon everyone. My name is Li Guang and I will be your main host for today. For those of you who don't know this event is for the Sun Coalition to sell some of our blueprints. We will begin momentarily so please remain seated until then."

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(BM) "Li Guang? He must be that elder that is related to Li Xin. Meng Wu, is he part of the Sun Coalition?"

(MW) "Indeed he is. I have had quite a few bouts with him and I must say he is quite formidable on land. His moniker is the flying demon. If only I knew more about tactics I may stand a chance against him."

(BM) "Guan Yu? Yue Fei? Have you ever had a sim against him?"

(GY) "I have, but only on one occasion. He was actually the one who did part of my first sim back when I was still new to planet 4. At that time he was very nearly at the rank of an elder, and now he is rank 30 something. His talent is enormous and Sun Tzu personally picked him up and spent his actual time to train him."

(YF) "Oh, that is news to me. Sun Tzu is currently our best strategist in the Chinese community, I can't believe he actually had a disciple."

(GY) "He's had multiple, some are even more ferocious than Li Guang. There's even rumours that many of the large scale factions' leaders were trained by him secretly."

(MW) "Well, that certainly isn't the case for me. He must've realized that my head wasn't too good for strategies hahaha. Oh looks like Li Guang is back out."

(LG) "Thank you for waiting everybody. Without further ado let me present to you fine members of the Chinese community the first item on the list! A blueprint of the Stuka used by the Nazi's and developed in 1935. This dive bomber also functions as a ground attack aircraft. There is a little-known fact about his plane. When it dives it makes this intimidating sound to demoralize your enemies. A fine plane if I do say so myself. Our starting bid is 15,000 silver coins" Li Guang said passionately.

"I'll go first!" someone within the crowd shouted.

(LG) "Oh? Who would like to bid for more?"

"Humph, stop playing around you fool, I'll go for 30,000!" Yelled someone else.

(LG) "We have 30,000! Is there anyone else?"

"32,000!"

"33,000!"

"40,000"

In the end, the German developed Stuka was sold for 42,000 by someone in the lower class. This type of stuff did not interest M.O.M, nor the pirates, nor Baron's group. So they passed on this blueprint. This was the case for the next few items until a certain missile caught Baron's attention.

(LG) "This will be one of our most powerful weapons. The DeepStrike, we had to pay quite a handsome price for this from the United States community, and let me tell you it was worth every coin. We will start this bid at 80,000 silver coins."

(BM) "That is something that I hadn't anticipated would show up here, but this could very well be one of the most devastating blueprints here. We must get this no matter the cost."

(MZ) "Oh? Do you need a helping hand?" Madam Zheng said with a smile on her face.

(BM) "For now there is no need. I will ask if it is beyond me though."

(MZ) "Whatever you say..."

"80,000!"

"100,000!"

"125,000"

"150,000"

(BM) "200,000!"

(LG) "Oh? This is the first time someone from a large faction has bid. It seems they are from the Forever Pirates booth. Is there anyone who would like to bid a higher price?"

"250,000"

"270,000"

(BM) "300,000"

Complete silence ensued. Everyone could tell how important this item was to Baron. This caught the eye of one of the elders of Vesper, Wu San Gui.

(WSG) "Brothers I have a bone to pick with this little brat. We need to prevent him from getting this blueprint." After looking around he realized that everyone agreed after all their common enemy was the Forever Pirates which Baron seemed to be in.

(HE) "Since I am the head elder I will allow you to use up all of your funds plus 200,000 of our factions shared funds. No more than that though. I have been eyeing this blueprint too."

(WSG) "Thank you head elder. I'll bid 315,000 silver coins!"

(LG) "Looks like another big faction has decided to join in on the fight. Do I have any more offers?"

(BM) "Is that Wu San Gui? He's trying to outbid me? No way I'd let that happen. 320,000!"

(WSG) "325,000!" Wu San Gui was beginning to sweat if Baron bid anymore then he would have to ask for more coins.

(BM) "330,000"

(WSG) "335,000"

(YF) "Baron are you sure of this? Spending so much on a single blueprint? That is a large part of what we had managed to earn these past few days."

(BM) "Not to worry, I refuse to believe that Wu San Gui will have that much to spend. 336,000"

(WSG) " Head Elder, may I use a little bit more the faction treasury?"

(HE) "Absolutely not, the 200,000 silver coins are far more generous than you already deserve."

(WSG) "But..." Wu San Gui started getting mad.

(HE) "Enough is enough! We concede Li Guang"

(LG) "336,000. If there is no one willing to bid anymore, then this Deepstrike will go to the youth in the Forever Pirates room. Going once, going twice, going...."

(WSG) "400,000!" Wu San Gui blurted out and immediately regretted his decision. The Head elder, as well as everyone else within the place, looked directly at the crazy fellow.

(BM) "400,000 is too rich for my blood, it's all yours Wu San Gui I know you must be really thirsting for this blueprint if you are willing to pay such a large amount for it."

(HE) "My god man. What were you thinking? Oh, that's right you weren't."

(WSG) "I'm sorry elder, please forgive my foolishness."

(HE) "What good is forgiveness? Now we have to spend so much out of our faction's treasury that the leader of our Vesper faction will clearly notice. You will be the one to pay back the full amount from the faction. All of it."

(WSG) "Can't we just say we made a mistake or something?"

(LG) "Remember folks, no matter how much you regret it. You may not go back on your price once you have firmly and proudly stated it. Or else your faction will be ridiculed from even the lowest of filth."

(HE) "We cannot afford such a stain in our name. As much as it pains me to say, we will have to pay it up front."